Long time, no see, I know. I’ve been contemplating moving this page to Facebook, or doing video reviews on YouTube. I started working on a new logo. Nothing is finished, and that’s all my fault. Let me know your thoughts and opinions.

Yesterday, I was scouring the internet for Korean reviews of the Black Panther movie, and somehow I entered the world of Blasian (black- asian) families on YouTube. One of the last videos I watched before turning in for the night was this one by skycedi. His video description starts with:

“What is it like being part of a Blasian family? I’ve been fortunate to grow up in a culturally diverse household, with a Korean mother and Black father. Being a biracial kid growing up had it’s challenges, but has been very rewarding. Get a closer look at how I grew up from birth until now.”

This video is a lovely homage to family and roots. I haven’t watched his other videos yet (and there are quite a lot), so I don’t even know if he experiences feelings of rootlessness. However, I’m glad to see someone thanking their elders for the unique experience that is being bi- or multiracial, as well as a TCK.

Huzzah, I found a network, an entire channel of videos made by TCKs in Hong Kong! Here is their intro video.

These guys sure look like their having fun together. It makes me just a tad bit jealous because there are no TCK gatherings in my area. So, while it will take me a while to get through all the videos from their channel (by that, I mean watching the videos AND writing reviews for them… on second thought, maybe I won’t do that much), I’m going to share the first video I randomly selected to watch.

This video is called the 5 Second Rule Challenge, and it’s a quick game challenge video between TCK friends. The game, as explained in the video, comes from the Ellen Degeneres Show. Players havefive seconds to name a specific number of things in a given category. I like this video a lot simply because it shows TCKs having fun and doing normal things together. The answers they gave for categories also reflect their backgrounds.

Due to the language, I would recommend teens and above to watch this. If you watch their other videos and like what they’ve done, be sure to let me know. Be sure to let them know, too!

Here’s another video from Alicia Gunderson that really stood out for me.

This video focuses on some of the struggles faced during repatriation. Gunderson interviews five people who have moved back to the USA after spending a significant amount of time abroad. You may recognize some of them from her other video that I shared. They discuss their transition experiences, the difficulties and surprises involved, and knowledge gained after moving back.

As with her other video that I shared, I’m grateful that there were so many people in this video. I think it’s important to mention that the experiences and opinions were varied. When TCKs consider their own experiences and research the experiences of others, there might be a tendency to think we will all go through the same thing. The TCK lifestyle connects us, but we are still unique individuals. Also, most of the videos I find are about defining the idea of a TCK, and discussions about repatriation are sometimes very brief. I hope that more TCKs will gather to discuss and film more specific issues like this.

Thanks to Katie, Rachael, Matosh, Makayla, and Amy Becker for sharing their stories in this video. (Forgive me if I misspelled any names, as they weren’t listed in the video description). There is a lot of great advice at the end of this video!

Today I want to share this video with you from Ilhan and Elina. As stated in the video, the key word is “vulnerability.”

Ilhan asks Elina to talk about the struggles and benefits of being a TCK.

Elina was born to Dutch parents, and has lived in the Dominican Republic, Qatar, Houston, Texas (USA), England, Saudi Arabia, and The Netherlands. This video covers a lot of different scenarios and experiences from her life, but she especially focuses on her teenage and young adult years.

As a child, saying goodbye to friends wasn’t that difficult because she enjoyed the adventure of meeting new people and seeing a new place. She says the school was the most influential place to interact with culture. She goes on to explain that expat life is very protective, and that fact made living on her own at 18 a great challenge.

Despite many challenges in her young adulthood, she’s learned to let go of the problems that bother her and accept cultural differences as they come. Elina mentions a quote, “The building of walls is ignorance. It’s the strategy of the loser.” For her it means, rather than build walls around yourself when you don’t understand something or someone, try to embrace it instead and see what you can learn from them.

I want to say that Ilhan really helped to facilitate the discussion because of his enthusiasm with the topic. This video is a little difficult to hear at times because of the various background noises. There is also some profanity used once near the end of the video. Still, I encourage you to watch it!

There are so many more videos that I’ve found for and about Third Culture Kids, and I’m oh-so-slowly but surely adding them. Here’s my latest pick from Alicia Gunderson, entitled, “TCKs Talk Home and Belonging.”

Here’s a quick and nicely done interview video. I love these kinds of videos because they often capture a variety of opinions. While we often share the same sentiments about our lifestyles, just as common is the different wisdom we gain through our lifestyles. Gunderson’s video features six interviewees (Joseph, Rachel, Sara, Sara (there are two), Rachel, Katie), and captures their interesting perspectives.

Interviewees are asked the following questions:
How many homes have you lived in?
Where are you from?
Where do you consider home?
Where do you fit in best?
How has your sense of home changed over the years?

Actually, I’m not sure about the other interviewees, but one mentioned that she was a missionary kid (MK), so I get the impression that this video features different kinds of TCKs, which is always great!

It seems that Gunderson has made several videos about TCKs and expatriate life. I will be sure to post about them later on. If you’d like to get a headstart, you can check out her YouTube channel.

Today’s post is exciting for me because of one very simple thing this vlogger is trying to do: create Third Culture Kid media for Spanish speakers. While I have tried to feature information from people all over the world, I haven’t featured many bi- and multilingual videos. There’s got to be hundreds of videos out there! Thousands!

Our vlogger today is Sofía Skrie. Her interviews feature a challenge at the very end. I like her use of challenges and games because they offer a chance for the interviewees to show off a bit more of their personalities during these short videos.

This episode’s challenge is Chubby Bunny. If you’ve never heard of this game before, this might be something you want to try even without an opponent! Stuff marshmallows into your mouth one at a time, and be sure to say “chubby bunny” before putting the next one in! The winner keeps all the marshmallows in his/her mouth while being able to say “chubby bunny.”

Skrie hopes to make more CTC (Chicos de Tercera Cultura) videos for Spanish-speaking audiences. She is just starting out, but I look forward to her progress. I will certainly look out for more TCK-related videos in other languages (though, my language barrier may prevent me from giving detailed reviews). Be sure to check out her other videos, or make your own and share them with her! (Share them with me, too)!

Like this:

ObliviousD is back with follow-up video to the one I shared before. In the previous video, he talked about being a TCK and shared some personal experiences of growing up in Australia and Singapore, namely his military service experience and feelings of acceptance within the two cultures.

Apparently, the video we looked at before is a re-uploaded video. The original was accidentally deleted by Ang himself! Seeing how his story had attracted so much positive attention and discussion, he made sure to upload the video again. However, the original comments and discussions were lost.

Then, he made a new video, a “part two,” if you will. Here he shares more tidbits of his TCK lifestyle. Struggles include using accents, name pronunciation, answering, ” Where are you from?” (the one we all know so well), eating favorite foods in other countries, learning your mother tongue, choosing your favorite home, and fitting in. Enjoy!

While it is probably counts as a professional independent vlog, it’s hard for me do determine what category to put it in. Tania Mehta’s video comes off as both an evening news segment and a mini documentary. Let me know what you think.

Our speaker, Tania Mehta, takes us through her life on a search for cultural identity. It is her journey for answers to specific life struggles that the film brings to focus. One thing that resonated with me is when she talks about truly living as a local later in life. I share the same thing with her growing up on military bases. The first time I really lived like a local (besides in my home country) was when I moved to Korea. There was a stark difference in lifestyle, and it took me awhile to adjust.

She interviews several people throughout the video, and the wisdom each person shares is applicable to all of us. Let this video encourage you to continue searching for your own answers.

I like the use of skits by these YouTubers. If you enjoyed Fat Mango and ObliviousD’s videos, then I highly recommend this one. Shibu gives us a rundown of his life in this world, and provides us with some of his most frustrating moments being a TCK. It’s all very lighthearted though, as Shibu encourages us to let home be where you feel comfortable. Let’s take a look.

While her name is unknown to me, this young lady has presented an emotional video full of interesting tidbits of thought. Being a TCK, or as she calls it, a Third Culture Child, our vlogger discusses her experiences between Taiwan and Australia. These are only two of the many places she has called home. She discusses how her definition of normal changed throughout life.

While I’m not sure how many others will share my opinion, I found this video to be extremely honest and poignant. I should say that I had some wary assumptions before watching this video, all of which are pointless to even mention. However, by the end of the video I found that it held a lot of wisdom. Her style of talking nonstop is amazing considering she hardly goes off topic.

A warning before watching this video: though each is only used once, there are two highly vulgar words used in this video. That being said, please enjoy this video.